The Message
by inuyashasimmortallove
Summary: Terra escaped from a slaver, on her way to a new life she runs into Senri, Cooro, Husky and Nana, all because she was following a dream that she had been having. But is Cooro having the same dream, and what does it hold in store for the group of Anima?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

When I finally stopped looking over my shoulder once I was certain I was so deep into the forest that no one except a bloodhound would be able to find me. My heart stopped jumping every time I heard a twig break or the sound of leaves moving in the wind.

I wasn't a detective, but I was pretty certain that Eric wasn't going to find me anytime soon.

Four days ago, I had waited until I knew without a doubt that he wasn't anywhere around my cage, I had swiped the key and I undid my lock and snuck out, swiping some gold coins, taking every little bit he had left behind and helping myself to some of his clothes which would offer me more protection against the harsh weather outside. Once outside of his house my grand escape plan could be summed up in a total of three words: _Get outta here. _I knew it wasn't a specific plan, but it was the most important part at the moment.

Now, I stood on the crest of a hill that overlooked a large open valley, now I was on the beginning of stage two, which was again summed up in a total of three words: _Find other Anima._

I let the backpack slip off of my shoulders and fall to the ground with a heavy thud, I sank down to my knees, feeling the stiff and dry brown grass against my skin, but at least it was softer then my cage bottom. My nerves were slowly beginning to calm down, and I forced myself not to think of the reception I would get from the village. Anima were not widely accepted by other people, they never understood us and saw us as monsters and treated us like dirt. If you weren't a slave, you lived at such a poverty level that you would certainly die from starvation if you didn't resort to stealing your meals and sleeping in cardboard boxes.

I listened to the gentle chirping of a grasshopper and I closed my eyes, every night I would go to sleep listening to them, making the silence a lot less scary. I took a deep breath, pulling it deep into my chest and releasing it slowly, just trying to find my inner calm place.

I pulled in another deep breath, running my fingers through the grass slowly as I forced myself too completely to relax.

_Just relax. You're save now._

I forced myself to reach deep into my inner most thoughts, trying to find the happiest memory I had.

_It's _s_ad that I don't have one._

The screech of a bird distracted me. Above, in the endless, cloudless sky, a hawk circled lazily before tucking its wings in and diving down to catch some helpless mouse for its dinner. And true to life, after a few heavy beats of its wings, I watched it lift into the sky, a mouse in its talons.

I didn't want to go looking for inner peace anymore; I didn't have much of it to begin with. I and my friend Amy, who had refused to try and escape with me, often, would make up wonderful stories of our possible lives if everything was perfect, and if we weren't Anima.

But I loved being different some days.

I dug into the backpack, pulling out some "clean" clothes; I had snatched these off of the floor of Eric's bedroom. It had taken me very little time to convince myself I no longer had to call him Master, and that no people had a right to own any other person. He had only allowed me to wear clothes that barely covered my developing body, black and leather was what he thought would be the best clothes for me, I thought they would be better suited burning in a fire place.

I sighed as I stroked my white tail slowly. It was the thing that let people know I was an Anima, and the first thing that had Eric buying me from my own parents, who never had wanted a child to begin with, let alone a child with Anima powers, they would be shunned by the village. Then again, I didn't know my parents and only had someone else's word to go on.

I took the worn off cloth shoes off of my feet and rubbed them slowly, they were sore from all the walking.

Beyond the bend and below me was a small town, I would have to ask the people of the town what it was called. It was secure in the bowl of mountains surrounding the town. For the past three days, I have been catching rides on traveling merchant carts, not caring where they were heading, only wanting them to head away from where I was, and this town---which for the past two hours had been hidden by the majestic mountains that were so high I could see the snow capped peaks and I thought about how people would hide there---been haunting me in a dream.

I lifted my hair off of my neck; it was too warm for a winter day. Though spring was coming, I could see it in the flowers and the animals that were roaming the forest around me.

I just wish that my head didn't feel has hot as it was, maybe I had pushed myself too far?

I didn't know what I was going to do once I had gotten down to the town, I had never planned on escaping myself, but I've been having this demanding dream lately that wouldn't leave me alone and I knew I was going to have to follow it if I ever had any hope of finding out what it meant. Dan, who had been my caretaker when Eric was too busy to bother with me, had been the one to tell me that I should see what this dream meant and where it would lead me, he had surprised me but he had been a kind man who just wanted to help.

A few times I had wondered if he hadn't made it too easy for me, he left the key near my cage, he had basically told me the guard schedule to know when Eric or his goons wouldn't be around, he had basically handed me my freedom and I was grateful to him, maybe one day I would return and show Eric who was boss and set everyone free from him.

I wanted this dream to mean something good, but part of me was determined to tell me that it was just a dream, nothing important would come from this town and my life was nothing more then just survival.

_You need to stop these negative thoughts._

I should have known that the lifetime of training wasn't going to change overnight.

I found myself going through all the training I had in my life, how it was trying to push out my new thoughts of freedom.

I pulled a hairbrush from the bag, I made sure to steal anything I thought would become useful. I maybe showing up in town homeless, but I wasn't going in there looking like a bum. I concentrated and pulled my tail in, followed by the ears that sat on my head. That part hurt the most because my body had to form the wolf ears into human ears and they moved down my head. I brushed my long auburn hair, releasing strands of hair onto the wind so that they could be used by the other creatures of the forest; I always thought that one should return things to the land once we no longer had need for them. After finishing trying to manage my hair, I tossed the brush back into the pack and tucked my hair behind my ear.

Securing the backpack tightly I released another sigh before I heard the sound of footsteps crunching over the leaves and twigs behind me. I wondered what these footsteps carried with them.

I twisted to see better and my heart plummeted all the way down to my feet as I saw a large man making his way over the hill, a large machete in his hand as his eyes locked with mine.

Well, he only had one visible eye, the other was hidden behind a black eye-patch, and he looked like he had been born in the wilderness.

_Stay calm, he's not after you._

I teetered a bit, wondering if I should start praying. Then again I didn't think praying would do me any good, if he was after me he would have cleared the space between us and sliced me open, and if there was a God he wouldn't do this to His own creations.

In spite of my nerves, I stood my ground and stood up slowly, I mean I was full grown woman now. I could always rely on my primal instinct when I felt threatened, or I could wait for a full moon and really let they guy have it. The problem with that was it was the middle of the day. Maybe he didn't see me transform, maybe he didn't know I was an Anima.

The tall brown gray haired man glanced down behind him when a black haired boy emerged from beside him. He was wearing a yellow, high collared shirt and a sleeveless red undershirt, his arms were bare and he had a large black belt hanging around his waist.

I felt relief rush through my body.

_It's just a kid, _I told myself. He wasn't going to kill me in front of a kid, not a decent man anyway. _Not everyone is going to be after you._

_Besides, _I thought, glancing over at the tall man again and then at the small boy once more, _he doesn't look that scary._

"HELLO!" the black haired boy said with a big smile, waving his hands and shouting as if there was a chance that I wouldn't be able to hear him from this distance. "Are you lost too?"

I lifted my eyebrow slowly. That made me want to laugh---a guy like the one beside him looked like he wouldn't get lost in any forest and was probably just following this guy, he was a "Man born of the wild"

"I'm not _lost." _It wasn't a complete lie, I knew that I wanted to be here, but they didn't need to know about me and what I was doing here and if I played my cards right I might be able to get into the town with a lot more ease, groups of people tended to fair better together.

"Have you seen two other people around here?" He asked as they both began making there way towards me, the younger boy had such a relaxed and friendly air about him, it was hard not to trust him and it made you feel like you could be yourself, even though we just met.

"No, I haven't seen anyone, but I just deviated from the main road about two hours ago, they maybe back there."

He frowned and crossed his arms, as if he was thinking deeply about what I said. _Two kids shouldn't be running around the forest by themselves._

He opened his mouth to say something more when his larger grey haired friend came to stand by his side. Again this guy fit another category; the "strong and silent type" fit him.

"We were journeying to the town of Habon when we got separated by being chased by a large bear." He said, going through the motions of a monster bear by raising his arms above his head and roaring, stomping towards me as if that would get his point across.

"Is that the town over there?"

"Yep."

"Maybe their there?" I offered, gesturing for the town behind me, it was the only option I could think of.

"You look a lot like this girl I've been seeing a lot lately, I've been having dreams recently."

"I'm sure I'm not the same girl." I wasn't sure what he might be dreaming about, but I was certain it wasn't me.

My eyes moved towards the taller man next to the boy, he was just standing there silently looking around; he was probably keeping an eye and ear out for any signs of their missing friends. Now that I thought about it, they were similar to people that had been in my dreams, but I was pretty certain that was just a coincidence, things like dreams didn't come true and they sure didn't predict the future, but didn't I come here chasing a dream?

"I can help you look for them." I offered. "We should find them before it becomes dark."

"I would appreciate it!" the boy smiled.

I nervously fidgeted with my long shirt. "Are you guys from this village, or around here?"

"Nope, we're on a journey!"

I tilted my head to the side, a boy as young as him should be living in his village with his parents, playing outside with his friends and helping his parents in the field when the time came, he shouldn't be journeying across the wilderness, even if it was with someone he knew. "A journey---sounds similar---I'm on one too."

The black haired boy smiled. "You want to come with us?"

I found myself surprised that he had asked me so soon, I mean yeah I had entertained the thought not too long ago about maybe joining the two of them, but most people wouldn't offer that fast, at least not be expecting something in the end and personally I had nothing to give them.

"You just met me, aren't you concerned?"

"You don't look like a bad person, and you're on a journey too. But there is a condition to travel with us," he held up one finger. "You need to me an Anima; we're journeying to find other Anima. I'm Cooro and this is Senri."

I must have been kept out of the real world for a very long time, usually people with Anima powers tried their hardest not to let people know about them, this kid seemed proud of being different and he wanted to let everyone else know that he was different. I glanced at the man named Senri, he still didn't say anything and I wondered if maybe he might be mute.

"Are you an Anima too?" Cooro asked after a moment of silence fell between the three of us.

"Yeah." I said to him softly, giving him a gentle smile with my best "I'm not ashamed of it" attitude, even if at times I was.

Cooro looked at Senri and smiled as he reached out and grabbed my hand in his smaller hands. "Let's get going now," he said as he pulled me towards him and Senri's previous direction.

I suppose he was just a friendly guy and would trust anyone that he deemed worthy of it.

"What direction did they run in?" I asked, glancing between the two of them, but I was pretty certain Senri wasn't going to answer. And if Eric came looking for me, at least I had one person who may defend me.

I followed him; they were shouting out their friend's names though I really wasn't listening to their names, I was becoming wrapped up in my own thoughts once more as we walked.

Cooro hadn't asked me my name or what kind of Anima I was, maybe he thought that I would divulge the information when I felt it would be the best time, and I wasn't sure when that would be.

I glanced over my shoulder, everything was quiet behind me, and I didn't think any single person would be sneaking up behind us. I shifted my backpack onto my other shoulder and kept walking.

After about ten minutes we heard other voices.

Another young boy and a young girl emerged from the shadows of the forest, the young girl was clinging tightly to the boy, and even from here I could see her trembling with fear.

"Who's that?" the young girl asked, making her way towards me, her green eyes were sparkling brightly and she smiled, she seemed thrilled with the idea there was another girl in the group. She was wearing a light pink dress with white frill; she was a girl that seemed to like being dressed up and enjoyed the pretty things that life had to offer.

I patted the top of her head.

I turned my attention to the boy next to her.

The girl grabbed his arm. "This is Husky, don't worry about him, he doesn't like girls very much. It took him awhile to start liking me. So just give him his space and he'll come around."

I smiled and nodded, again tugging on the bottom of my long shirt, I was wearing all men clothes and I was beginning to feel out of place wearing something that threatened to fall off my form, that's all I needed to do was flash a mute and a couple of kids.

"Joining our group?" her voice was filled with hope, jumping up and down excitedly.

"According to this guy, I am."

"Alright!" She said, clapping her hands together and giving me the biggest and warmest smile. "I was beginning to feel a little worried being the only girl in the group of guys…"

"I'm glad for you." I smiled.

She looked at the silver haired boy. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"It's alright." I didn't think he would enjoy talking to me, especially since he didn't like girls.

"Where are you from?" Her question kind of threw me off guard and I wasn't sure what kind of answer to give her.

"I'm Terra, I came from the west." _That's not a lie. You just don't have an exact location to give._

"I'm Nana," she smiled. She moved closer to me and gripped my hand and pulled me closer to the group. I glanced back over my shoulder and figured it would be best to head back to town. The one named Husky was refusing to make any kind of eye contact with me.

"We should head back to town, what do you say?" I asked them with a jab of my thumb in the direction behind me.

Husky frowned at me. "You're heading there too?"

"Well, your friend Cooro asked me to join your group and your all heading in the direction, and I was too."

Cooro nodded. "She's one of us," he said, then he grabbed Husky's slender arm and yanked him forward. "You can't distrust everyone we first meet, if you're like that you're never going to make any kind of friends and you're going to end up missing out on a lot of people…" He turned to the rest of us. "We never would have met any of our friends."

"You can't meet anyone unless you want too…"

"Who asked you?"

"Well aren't you a friendly little fellow? I was only pointing out what should be obvious."

"Husky, don't be mean!"

"It's alright, he's just being himself. He doesn't want anything to do with me and that's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"You can't force yourself on people Nana."

"I know…but he shouldn't…" She let the sentence fade away as she scuffed her toe with the dirt.

"Its alright, I'm use to it." In one form or another anyway.

"If you say so." She clasped her hands behind her back and I found myself feeling like a mother. "You wouldn't happen to know how to cook, or maybe have some money on you?"

Well she jumped straight to the point.

_Their kids and they need to eat. _Though I hadn't planned on spending my money on another group of people.

We continued walking down the grass path before us, and I decided that I should keep myself on a base connection with them, don't get attached and nothing bad would happen.

Dreams didn't come true for people like us; they didn't lead us to some grand destiny that would be waiting for us at the end. Dreams didn't deliver messages to people, they were just dreams and they were wishful thinking of the heart that wanted more then it had.

I had been taught that at a young age. _And people don't want to deal with your problems either._

Cooro was laughing and talking lightly, he was the loudest person in the entire group.

I kind of found it relieving.

Part of me was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into, a traveling group of Anima didn't bring with it any hopes of a dream coming true, then again, maybe this dream was just beginning.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I calculated the numbers on my napkin, making sure to make room for optimism, which made the math even harder. If I was careful, I could make the gold last me long enough to get me some time in this town and then to the next too. But I had to be _careful. _I glanced at the man sitting next to me; he was quietly eating the meal that Cooro had ordered for him, never speaking out loud for anything.

Senri glanced over at me, and then Cooro broke the silence. "Aren't you going to eat your food?" He pointed to the hot sandwich that sat in front of me, smothered in dark brown gravy.

I had been more concerned about planning out the future as much as I could before I could eat, but now I figured the meal had gotten cold from sitting there for awhile. I simply smiled at him and nodded, turning and glancing in the direction of the door, inclined to leave the group now.

But the longer I sat with the group, I felt more and more incline to leave them just to protect them. What if Eric _had _come after me? What would I do if he found he wanted more slaves?

Maybe it was better if I left, that way none of these people got caught up in a dangerous game.

I glanced around me. None of them was going to let me leave; well I'm sure Husky wouldn't mind me leaving. I leaned on the table and began eating the food slowly, tuning in and out of the conversations between the three kids, well mostly Nana and Cooro.

I heard the sound of a very drunk group of people stumble around the tavern, it was too early in the day for anyone to be drinking, but if you had a lot of sorrows to chase away I guess it didn't matter what time of day you began drinking, as long as you kept the demons away. I had never drank myself, but I had seen previous masters drink away some trouble that they thought was a big problem, but to someone like me their problems were nothing, if they had wanted a problem they should have switched places with us.

"You seem sad," Cooro was saying. "You shouldn't let yourself think about bad times."

I glanced up at the young boy. "I'll try and do that." Cooro was a caring boy; you could tell that from the way he was. He was carefree and he enjoyed helping other people feel that way.

"We need to find a place to stay."

_A place to stay. _That sentence usually leads to trouble when you didn't have a lot of money and a large group of people looking for an inn to stay at. I don't want to be thrown out in the street again.

"We're better off camping somewhere." I said.

"But we're already in town…"

"And we have to save all of our money for important things." I pushed away my glass and glanced over my notes on the napkin, being careful not to let the children or Senri see what I was writing. I hadn't given them the idea that I planned on staying with them, but I didn't want to see Cooro's face when I told him that I didn't want to stay with the group forever.

Cooro leaned over and looked at my napkin. "What are you doing there? Figuring out how much money it would cost to get seconds?"

I turned my attention to him and opened my mouth when someone slammed their hand on our table. "You look like strangers, new around here?"

He was a scruffy looking man, he looked like he was probably part of a group of thugs that ran around this town, it seems like there was always a group like that roaming around somewhere.

I pushed his hand off of our table.

His eyes narrowed and I felt fear slither through me. "Who do you think you're pushing around you little---" He reached towards me when I felt something reach past me quickly, sharp claws attached to a furry brown arm.

My first reaction was always the same with Eric, shrink back until you had no where to go, but never before had someone come to my aid.

I felt anger beginning to grow inside me.

I glanced behind me and stared at Senri, who took his long claws and grabbed the man's shirt. He stood up, which I wondered what he was planning on doing with all of us sitting there---I didn't know him well enough to judge what he was going to do, but I had this suspicious feeling we were about to get into a fight with every single person in the bar here.

That's when the guy went flying from being thrown by the powerful arm, he crashed into a table and food went flying. It was then his group of friends stood up quickly. The guy roared with pain and came rushing towards our table. Blood was running down the side of his head as he threw curses in our direction, a broken bottle was in his hand.

I moved the kids behind me.

The guy took a swing at me with the bottle. I ducked and tackled him to the ground. I could hear Senri fighting and I hoped the kids weren't fighting; they were too young to be involved in this kind of thing. I felt strong hands yanking me away from the guy.

In spite of all my fighting, I found myself pinned down on the ground my hands being forced behind my back. The guy was holding his forehead, blood was covering his hand and pouring into his eye, he was screaming he was pressing charges and Anima were the scum of the Earth.

I glanced over to see more then one person pinning down Senri, even then struggling to keep him contained.

**********

Sitting in a cell next to me, Senri was sitting there, his hands clasped between his legs as he was leaning forward, he was probably no older then me maybe eighteen, he seemed to be holding onto a deep dark past that he didn't want to share with anyone else, and I saw myself in that. His gray eyes were deep set, or at least the one not hidden behind the eye patch. His gray hair fell over his shoulder, the beads giving it some color to distinguish from all the gray color. He hadn't showed much more then a frown when we first met.

"You two are free to go," the sheriff said as he slid open the door to my cell and then Senri's. "Your kids came and posted the bail."

I felt a heavy blush come across my face and I stepped out of the cell and kept my head down, so my gaze wouldn't meet with the sheriffs. I didn't think the kids would have enough money to bail us both out. I would have at least bailed myself out but I didn't even have enough myself, apparently being around an Anima guaranteed you'd be treated like you were one.

"What now?" I asked him, watching him from the corner of my eye, trying to contain my rush of nerves. He had been giving us dirty looks the entire time we had been sitting in his jail, this was a town that didn't think much of Anima, then again there wasn't many towns that liked them, so when the guy pressed assault charges on Senri, they had been heavy.

I tried to claim that we were only defending ourselves, but we were the visiting "freaks", and this guy was obviously the golden boy of the village and he had himself positioned with many high ranking friends. So when he cried that he had been attacked, they were all too eager to throw us into jail, they probably would have hung us if they had enough motives too, and I was grateful I hadn't even thought about transforming in front of them.

"You two have a court date, we'll notify you." The Sheriff said, leading us to the front of the jail.

"And when will that be?" I tried to keep the panic I was feeling out of my voice. This was a time I wish Senri would say anything; it got a little strange being the only one talking in a conversation with him.

"Depends when the judge gets back from visiting her family."

_We may end up on the chopping block._

I wondered if this Judge would be bias against Senri when she found out he was an Anima. Of course, if the other people of this town were to be used as a judge for the Judge---I didn't want to think of what may happen to any of us when she came back from her family visit.

The doors that lead to the holding area swung open…it was good to finally be this close to freedom.

The three kids stood by the door, Cooro and Nana looked concerned about us and Husky looked like he was about to blow a casket. I knew for certain he wasn't happy for having to spend all that money to spring us out. The two of them ran towards us, as Husky slowly walked behind them. I could understand where the frustration was coming from. We had really put a dent in all of our plans.

In spite of my roadside grooming earlier, I knew my hair looked like a mess from the struggle in the tavern, and my eyes were probably red. I had been crying in my cell for a short while and my wrists had burn marks from the ropes they used to tie my hands together in front of me. If I thought Husky didn't like me, he really didn't like me after this.

I ran a hand nervously down my pants.

Cooro looked up at us. "Are you two ok?"

"We're fine now."

Cooro smiled, though Nana tilted her head to the side as if she didn't believe me that everything was going to be ok.

Husky stayed behind a little.

"Sorry about that," I said to Husky as a feeble apology. "I know you guys had plans for that money."

"It's fine." The tone of voice was as cold as ice.

It would probably be a long time before he even thought about really forgiving us, and I had no doubts that he was the kind of guy that would demand repayment for the rest of the time we were together, so I decided to beat him to it. "As soon as I can, I'll repay my half."

"Husky, don't be so hard on them. The guy was the cause of all the problems." Nana said, looking at Husky as if she was trying to make him understand that it wasn't our entire fault.

"Its ok Nana," I said. "Money is very hard to come by, especially for travelers with no trade."

"We always manage to make some, one way or another."

"What's that suppose to mean?" I asked, wondering what these kids did to get money. "You kids are being careful about it, aren't you?"

Cooro looked confused by the statement, but I knew Nana and Husky understood it, they both looked at each other and then at me, Nana had a slight blush across her young face.

I reached over and squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her showing her that I wasn't judging them. We were all in the same boat here, no one had a right to cast a stone at anyone else, however that didn't stop them---I was pretty certain Husky was a very judgmental person.

Husky turned to the Sheriff. "We can go now, right?"

The Sheriff nodded, placing his hands on his hips. "Stay at the inn, if you can't afford it we will set you up with a temporary housing, but you can't leave the town until after the hearing, understand?"

I wondered if Eric was looking for me if this would make it that much easier on him. I had been careful not to leave any clues in what direction I was heading in. I hadn't had the plans on staying in any town for a long enough time for this to become a possible problem…

"What are we suppose to do now then? With people knowing about Senri it'll be hard." Nana said, but Cooro simply smiled and he looked as if he believed everything would work out.

"We just have to make the best of it."

"Easier said then done."

"Come on now Husky." Cooro said as he grabbed his friends arm and yanked him towards the exit. I watched the two boys who seemed incredibly close; actually, now that I thought about it they were all real close together. I was the intruder in the group, the outcast.

An outcast among outcasts.

_Now that's what you call ironic._

"Let's make the best of a bad situation." I told them. "I'm sure the inn is a very nice place to stay."

Cooro nodded.

"Let's go!" Nana said, she took my hand and pulled me forward, I glanced behind me at Senri. "Come on Senri!"

"I better not catch any of you causing more trouble!"

I nodded in the direction of the Sheriff, that's when I watched Husky pull his hand away from Cooro's hand. "You just immediately think because he's an Anima that he's going to get in trouble?"

The Sheriff gave Husky a look; it was as if he was thinking about what he was saying.

"Just let him go," I said, feeling annoyance in my voice when I thought about how he was treating Anima.

The deputy woman handed us our items they confiscated when they arrested me and Senri, apparently clothing and a book could be used to bust out of the cell so they didn't want us to have them. _You could have let us keep them. _I thought as I searched through my bag and then heaved it over my shoulder.

It felt so good to be outside even if the wind was blowing a little rougher then it had been before. A fly buzzed past my head. A couple of carts from merchants rolled past us. Across the street I watched an elderly couple talking amongst themselves, and then I heard the thin, reedy voice of the woman as she looked up and saw all of us standing there on the steps.

I was pretty sure it was just my paranoia that let me believe she was talking about us. Then again, we were the first excitement that entered this sleepy town.

Finally, Husky had finished discussing something with the Sheriff who apparently thought he was the responsible one, which was the truth probably, and he joined our group a moment later.

"What was that about?" I asked quietly, wondering what else the Sheriff wanted to say to us.

He gave us an agitated look; he was the kind of person who didn't like small interruptions to his plan. He was in for a rude awakening when he got older since life didn't work that way. He was a stern boy. He was going to become an even sterner adult.

I caught a hint of concern in Cooro's face. It wasn't a look one would normally find in that boys eyes and it made me wonder if are situation wasn't going to get any worse.

"We better get….before it's too late…" I heard Nana saying as she moved closer to Cooro, I noticed that people were beginning to stare at us and I knew that word had traveled fast.

I placed a hand on Nana's shoulder as we began making our way back to the tavern and inn we had first been at, where are trouble started, which was also now our personal prison.

The smell of the fresh air was nice since being in the stuffy cell. I never thought I would enjoy it even more since I escaped being a slave; the knot inside me began to loosen again. It was only a little bit though.

"It's just one room." He said, holding up a key. I realized that would make sleeping arrangements a little harder. "Which means there only one bed."

I felt a little nervous again, of course it would be best to give the kids the bed it wouldn't be right to take it, their too young. I was an adult in the group. Well I was one of the adults.

"You kids can share the bed." I said as I looked at them with a smile, I was going to try to watch out for them, while trying to watch my own back and make sure to keep myself from getting too attached. Then again I don't think I could keep myself at arms length from them.

The kids looked at each other and Husky held his arms out and shook his head quickly. "I'm not sharing a bed with a girl!"

"Why not?" I asked.

"I don't like girls and don't want to spend time with them in bed." Husky said, giving Nana a look.

Nana stuck her tongue out at Husky and turned away from him, her arms crossed. "The same here, I don't want to share a bed with you either."

"Come on you too!" Cooro said, looking at them. "Husky don't be so mean to Nana."

"Yeah, you're always mean to me!"

Husky frowned and I shrugged.

Nana turned and looked at me. "Sometimes I wonder about him."

"You _wonder _about him. That means you care about him."

Husky had a faint blush come across his face, and so did Nana who looked at me with surprise.

"I don't care about him like that!" her voice sounded a little panicked. "He's just a friend, when I find a guy he will be the complete opposite of what Husky is like and how he treats girls."

I caught the dreaminess in her voice. "Finding Prince Charming is something all little girls dream about, but I can tell you that's going to be a very long search for you Nana."

She tilted her head slightly and looked at me. "Why is that Terra? You've seen good men, right?"

There was no positive answer to that question.

"Why are you two talking about that?"

"This is the first time since I left Octopus that I've had a chance to talk to a girl about, well girl things! So I'm sorry if it bothers you and Cooro. I mean you guys get to talk about boy things and you have your own time together, but I've never had that chance until we met Terra."

"What's the difference?"

"Cooro, girls and boys are completely different." She held her hands out as if the emphasis her point, I guess he was the kind of kid that "missed the subtle differences" of life.

Though I don't think I was the girl that Nana was looking for, considering I didn't know much about things outside slavery. "In more then the obvious way."

Husky shot me a flare of irritation about the choice in topic; he would prefer we talked about anything else. "Since we're stuck staying in this town we're going to have to get a few things straight about what we need to do. We need to find a way to get some more money to afford another room at the inn, and then we need to find out when you two are suppose to go on trial. We could try and escape from the town, but that could very well end with you two on a wanted poster." He said as he walked, planning out every detail of our time here. If he was going to be here he was going to make it work out for his benefit. He didn't strike me as the kind of person who should be out traveling, it didn't seem like something he would enjoy doing, but then again we were all here for one reason or another. "And I want you two too stay at the inn, that way there's no chance for you getting in trouble. If you only thought before you acted we wouldn't be here!"

"Senri did what he thought was right, especially when the guy wasn't taking a hint about leaving us alone." If the guy would have left us alone no problem would have started but then again I didn't think Senri would have defended me but he may have very well only have been protecting the children, especially since we weren't sure what him and his gang of goons were going to do if they had gotten there way from the very beginning.

Cooro turned and looked at Husky. "What happened, happened, there's nothing more you can do about it."

He was simply one of the calmest people I knew, nothing seemed to bother him at all, even when the guys had started harassing us.

Cooro placed his arms behind his head as we walked, the walk seemed a lot longer then it had been when we first entered the town, then again when we first entered the town we weren't doomed to be trapped here for a undisclosed period of time, nor did we have as little money as we did first starting.

"What were you thinking, laying your hand on the guy? You should have just ignored him!" The words spilled out quickly from Husky's mouth, probably before he even really thought about them.

"Would you prefer he laid a hand on us?"

"He was just a harmless drunk."

"No drunk is harmless."

"You could have just ignored him, and he would have eventually left us all alone and we could…" Husky stopped, the look on Nana's face was one full of anger and betrayal.

I didn't know much about everyone's past, but I could tell the look was one of someone who had dealings with the wrong end of an angry drunks hand and I had been on that end too. Perhaps in time I could talk to Nana about it, but now wasn't the time and I wasn't going to push the subject and risk getting my own assorted tail tangled into their own. Right now making Husky understand that sometimes things weren't as easy as just ignoring the problem and it would go away, it was never that simple and it never would be. I figured though it would be best to keep a low profile and maybe let him learn on his own, which would be a harsh lesson. But life was nothing but harsh lesson just being dealt out right and left. For the past nine months all I ever got was a harsh lesson about life and how it was unfair. I had learned there was no Prince Charming coming to save you, I knew that maybe some time out in the world might change some of the things I learned but I was pretty certain that everything I had learned was a real truth no matter where you were.

_Relax. Don't think about anything negative._

I lowered my head as we walked.

Husky kept quiet now. The entire group found themselves in an awkward silence; a frown was heavy on Cooro's face, which seemed so out of place on the young black haired boy whose face seemed so much more use to laughing and being happy then being sad and serious. I felt like it was my fault this entire thing happened, and I could hear the voice in my head confirming it was my fault.

So I kept quiet as we walked through the town looking for the inn, the Sheriff's office was a distance away from the inn, and he hadn't bothered to give us directions to it, maybe he was hoping we would get in trouble again so he could keep us in jail the entire time.

A deep sigh drifted out of Senri, which was the first noise I heard him make in a long while.

"Are you ok?" Nana asked, gently taking Senri's hand and looking up at him with concern.

I couldn't help but smile and I felt like I was being let in on a secret that no one else knew. It was the secret of Nana's crush on Senri and that to her, he was her Prince Charming. And against the backdrop of the mountains I could see from the village he seemed like he belonged there, a man born of the mountains that had a gentle connection to nature and it made me wonder if he was part of the Kim-Un-Kur, maybe I would ask him one day.

The mountains must be a wonderful place to live, the peace and quiet that it promised, and the protection.

"I'm sorry Nana." Husky said, finally realizing he was part of the reason for the silence.

"It's….not so bad here…" The comment wasn't really meant for anyone to hear, it was just something I felt like saying out loud. I could see prairies stretching out as far as the eye could see. I knew moments ago I was thinking staying here would be a bad idea, and I hadn't completely changed my mind but part of me was saying this wouldn't be such a bad place to stay for awhile. It would be a place to at least allow me to gather my thoughts together a little better.

Cooro came and stood next to me. "It's really nice isn't it? I enjoy traveling because the scenery is always so nice."

His tone of voice held happiness and peace in it and I knew _traveling _was the life that suited him best. Traveling was the thing that often made boys into men and often gave people a better insight because they were able to see the world and grow as they experience new things.

I had dreamed of exploring the world, I had always wanted to know what I could learn; I wanted to become something more then what my entire life had lead up to from my childhood. I wanted to journey to an exotic location and get myself a really nice house, in some nameless city would be better. But, more importantly, I wanted to make friends and learn to trust, I wanted to be able to look at someone and not wonder if they were a slaver or may judge me on sight.

Now I was in the wilds of some town, and….well, maybe I was following my plan.

I would also be following my dream that I had been having, maybe it was a message given to me, and maybe there was some greater power that had a bigger plan for all five of us.

"Maybe we're lost now, I'm pretty sure we should have found the inn by this time." Husky said. "The inn wasn't that far from the entrance, we should have passed it by now."

"The town's a lot bigger then I thought." Cooro said as he walked towards a merchant that was selling cooked meat. "I mean, is it really that big of a deal to head to the inn so early, I think it would be better if we explored and see what we can see and maybe try and find some Anima." He held up one finger and took some smoked meat on a stick and paid for it. "I mean, we're supposed to stay here right? You guys are all acting like its something horrible."

I felt unease squirm through me and then I immediately try to hide any of it from showing on my face. "Your right, we don't have to let this become something bad, we can turn it positive."

Husky's frown deepened.

"We don't have a choice." He said as he turned and looked at the group that was walking behind him. "I would prefer for us to be here because we chose to be, if we're looking at it like that."

The boy was seriously beginning to wear on my nerves. I was older then him and he wasn't my master so he had no right to talk down to me. I have had enough of that through my entire life.

"You need to stop being so pessimistic." I said, deciding that shouting at the boy wouldn't get us anywhere and it most definitely wouldn't get me on his better side and I didn't want to be his enemy.

"He's just the unluckiest one of us all, so he tends to be a little bit grumpier then everyone else."

Leave it to Cooro to explain his grumpiness as simply as he was an unlucky person and it got on his nerves. "People can be lucky or unlucky but I also believe a person can make their own luck if their willing to take whatever opportunities that come to them."

"You sound like you really know a lot Terra; do you like to read a lot of books and stuff?" Cooro asked, smiling at me.

"I don't read books, its just things I learn from listening and watching other people who've learned that way," I said.

"Senri always has a book, he's really attached to it and he doesn't let anyone see it."

"It must be important to him." I placed a hand on my chest, I could feel my necklace underneath my shirt and I could understand how an item could hold so much value to one person.

"He likes pressing stuff in it."

I tilted my head slightly.

"I think he's keeping mementos."

Then silence fell across the group again.

"I think maybe we should keep a scrap book." Nana suggested. "We've been so many places and seen so many things, it would help us remember all the things we've done and friends we made."

"I'm guessing this little group has been doing a lot of traveling? Have you guys known each other that long?"

Cooro smiled a big smile. "We all met while traveling, I first found Husky working in a circus!"

"A circus? Did you enjoy it?"

"No I did not." Husky huffed, giving Cooro a jabbing look, as if it had been a secret. "I only did it to make money."

"I'm pretty sure it must have made good money."

"And Senri was guarding a village that grew Abon Weed from a group of thugs and their leader that wanted to dig there for gold."

I turned and glanced at Senri who was still walking quietly behind us. He guarded flowers? Not that there was anything wrong with it. I really just couldn't see him standing in a field of flowers but at the same time I could.

"And Nana was living with orphans underground and she had stolen some pearls from Husky." Cooro finished explaining.

She probably hadn't been his "favorite" when they first met, then again I didn't know if they were friends yet.

It wasn't my problem….

"And then we met you when we got separated from each other and you helped us find Husky and Nana again! So, tell us about yourself? What brings you all the way out here?"

"Well, I was just following a dream---"

"What was your dream about?" Cooro asked as he seemed to gain more and more excited with the thought I was about to reveal myself to him.

"Nothing important." I didn't think they _needed _to know.

"Terra---"

I held up a hand, and thankfully that was all I needed to do for him to understand what it meant. I really didn't want to explore my past more then I had to and I didn't think they needed to know the negatives of the world. Slavery, rape, torment, degradation, betrayal and pain. They didn't need to know.

I didn't know their past, but I was positive they've had their share of hard times and suffering. But they still saw hope for the world. I didn't have a right to tell them that hope was pretty dim.

"What did you do…?"

"A little bit of everything."

"So you're a jack of all trades. That should make getting some money a lot easier and maybe even get you and Senri out of trouble."

"You make it sound like we just draw it." I added a force laugh.

Husky looked at me and crossed his arms and he looked like he was trying not to shout at me. "Terra, this isn't a joke."

His words sounded like something an old man should have been saying and not a small child. "You need to trust me that it won't happen again, I was the cause of the problem, I know."

"At least you understand."

"How can I not? You keep driving the point home."

"If I don't keep this group in line we wouldn't have any money and we wouldn't get anywhere…"

"You're not the leader." I said suddenly.

"And how do you know?"

I bit my bottom lip, I probably shouldn't have said that and I shouldn't have lost my temper there but he was really trying his hardest to make everyone believe it was my entire fault.

"Stop." A deep voice said.

I spun around surprised, it was the first time I had ever heard Senri utter any word since we met.

And I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.


End file.
